Love is
by Alex Snape
Summary: Just what is love between The Joker and Harley? It's their own unique brand, actually. See what happens when Mistah J's love for her is questioned. Rated M for swearing and violence. Nolanverse Joker.


The Joker, lying on his stomach, woke up and looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand. 9 am. He groaned as he rolled onto his back and stretched. "Ah, fuck," he grumbled as he felt his tired back pop in different places and he scratched his scalp as he rolled onto his side. He laid his arm across Harley's spot on the bed and opened his eyes to find that it was empty. He raised his head and looked around until he saw a light in the bathroom.

He got out of bed and walked to the bathroom door and found Harley in front of the mirror wearing her short red satin robe. Her hair was wet and tied back in a ponytail and she stood on her tip-toes to lean over the counter to get a closer look as she put on her mascara. The Joker cocked his head and saw that her black lace panties were peeking out from underneath her robe, and he smiled as he entered the bathroom and stood behind her while she looked into her bag. She raised her head and let out a surprised squeal, but then laughed. "Puddin'. You scared me," she said.

The Joker chuckled as he put his arms around her waist and tried to sneak his hand underneath her robe to touch the crotch of her panties. Harley bit her lip and playfully scolded, "No, no, Mistah J. I don't have time, remember?"

"No?" he smirked. "But, you never say no to me, baby doll. Besides…" He finally slipped his fingers into her panties and stroked her wetness. "I think you really mean 'yes.'"

Harley giggled. Of course she wanted to have a nice, morning romp with him, but she had plans that day. "That feels…very nice, baby, but…you know I can't right now." She applied some light blush to her cheeks and smirked at him. "Your hair looks great, by the way."

The Joker looked in the mirror and saw that his hair was parted in a tangled mess. He didn't shower when he had gotten home and his white makeup was smeared and he still had green paint in his curly locks. He had wiped off most of his lipstick like he normally did before he got into bed in order to avoid Harley's griping about how red stains are hard to get out of the sheets. He snickered. "I'm going for a new look. And I thought you chicks loved the bed-head look."

"Chicks?" Harley said as she raised her eyebrow at him. "How very sexist of you."

"Sexist?" he said, chuckling. He suddenly remembered where Harley was going that day and he rolled his eyes and groaned. "Oh, man. You're going Queen Weed's today, aren't you?"

"Ivy, baby," she corrected him as she pulled the tie from her hair and plugged in the hair dryer. "And before you ask, we're just going to hang out at her apartment."

He sat on the edge of the bathtub and put his hands on his knees. "Why do you like to hang out with her? You know I don't like her."

"Well, I do, Puddin,'" Harley said as she combed her hair. "She's the only female friend I've ever really had. All the girls at my high school and college didn't really…well, they all had their cliques."

"I just don't like the fact that every time you come back from visiting her that you're suddenly adamant about issues that you've never really cared about. Remember when you came back with all those pamphlets about the rainforest?"

"Yeah, I do remember. And you threw them in the garbage."

"Because saving the fucking rainforest is a lost cause. There's got to be some kind of industrialization everywhere in the world nowadays; tourists are gonna need some kind of hotel when they go to the rainforest, then they'll need gas stations for their rental cars, then they'll need their fast food joints because, dammit all, it's beautiful but there's no fucking way I'm having bugs on a stick."

"Okay, baby," Harley said in a calm tone. "I get it."

"You know what I'd prefer? A sloth sandwich. I mean, it's not like they can run away or anything. I could just take my 9 mm and put one between his eyes and, voila, lunch!"

Harley tried not to laugh but she loved his ramblings. "Okay, hun. I promise I won't come back with an electric vehicle or a tofu bar or even a damn solar-powered vibrator. I get it!"

The Joker looked at her with a confused stare and suddenly laughed. "A solar-powered vibrator? Really, Harl?"

Harley laughed and turned to look at him, putting her hand on her hip. "You're the one talking about making a three-toed sloth sandwich."

"I was just kidding. Besides, they're too chewy." He got up and walked over to her and kissed her forehead. He caressed her cheek and said, "This is why I'm called The Joker and you're not, baby cakes." Harley giggled and they shared a gentle kiss until he pulled away and said, "Be careful walking those streets, huh? I've grown quite fond of you." Harley gave him a big smile and turned on her hair dryer while The Joker turned on the shower.

Just as she about to head out the door, Harley saw The Joker and his men suiting up for a job. "I'm gone now," Harley announced and The Joker raised his head.

She bounced over to him and he kissed her. "Please be careful. Do you have your gun?"

Harley rolled her eyes. "Babe, I'll be fine. Besides, I don't like carrying a gun in my purse; it's too heavy and it makes me nervous."

The Joker sighed and reached into his blue jacket that he wore under his purple coat. "Here," he said as he handed her a knife. "Keep that in your pocket while you're walking those sidewalks."

Harley took the knife and put it in the pocket of her dark blue jeans. "Happy?"

"I won't be until you're home safe," The Joker said as he placed his automatic rifle into its carrying case and handed it to Buddy. "Start the car, Bud," he told him and then turned to Harley. "Be home before dark."

"Will you be home before dark?" Harley quipped.

The Joker gave her a serious glare and she expected a small slap in the mouth, but instead he took her hand and squeezed it. "Don't worry about me. You get home…before dark. Okay…?" He looked into her eyes and then kissed her lips again. "Harley Baby?"

"I will," Harley whispered and they kissed one more time and then The Joker walked out of the abandoned theatre they called home.

She walked with a brisk strut down the sidewalk through downtown Gotham City. It was a bright, beautiful day and she decided to stop at the coffee shop and grab something for herself. When she went inside, the radiant aroma of freshly brewed coffee hit her nose and she grinned. As she stood in line to order, she couldn't help but notice three men, about college-aged, looking at her up and down. Harley was used to this type of staring as she always got it. She wasn't wearing anything revealing but she was wearing a tight baby-doll tee with equally tight jeans.

Harley turned her head slowly to look at them and the three men quickly averted their eyes.

Oh, she thought to herself. Shy, I see. Good. They don't need to try anything with me. They don't know who the hell they're dealing with, let alone whose.

After she got her order, Harley left the coffee shop and slowly walked to Ivy's apartment building. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being followed so she quickly turned around and saw the three men that had been staring at her come out of the coffee shop. They were laughing and talking to one another, but she saw one of them look at her and then quickly hide his eyes again. She decided to walk a bit faster and pretty soon she reached the apartment. "Hello, Lloyd," she cheerily greeted the doorman.

"Hello, miss. Lovely weather," he said to her, tipping her cap.

"It sure is," Harley replied as she went inside.

An hour later, Ivy and Harley were sitting on the sofa sipping herbal tea from the tea leaves Ivy was growing in her window sill. "Do you really think they were following you, Harl?" Ivy asked. "Maybe they just happened to be going your way."

Harley sipped her tea and then shook her head. "I dunno, Red. Something seemed awfully fishy about them. I wasn't too worried since Mistah J gave me one of his knives."

"Oh," Ivy's said, her voice taking on a deeper tone. "So, how is Puddin'?"

Harley giggled. "He's fine," she swooned and sipped her tea again.

"Does he still hate me?"

Harley gulped her drink and nodded. "With every bone in his body."

Ivy rolled her eyes. "Harley, I can't see how you've put up with him for these past two years. After all the stuff he's done to you…"

"Aw, come on, Red," Harley quickly interrupted. "He doesn't do that stuff anymore. Well…not as much as he used to, anyway." She looked away and pretended to be interested in the nature magazine on Ivy's coffee table.

"I know why he hates me, you know," Ivy pointed out. "It's because he doesn't want you to be close to anyone but him because he's so possessive of you."

"Wait a minute," Harley said, placing her mug of tea on the table. "If that were true, then why does he keep letting me come over here and hang out? Also, he isn't possessive; he's protective."

"Of his property, which is how he sees you, Harley." Ivy sighed. "Look, girly. I just don't want you to get hurt later on down the line when you finally see how much of a bastard he is to you."

"Now that's totally unfair, Pam," Harley huffed as she sat up in her seat. "You don't know how he is when it's just the two of us."

"Oh, yeah. Just the two of you…when he can have his way with you and do whatever he wants to your body. You know, that kinda ties in with the whole 'possession' thing I was just talking about."

"Mistah J does not have his way with me!" Harley stood up from the couch. "If anything, I let him do whatever he wants while we make love because I love him!"

"Make love?" Ivy retorted, standing up to face her now flustered friend. "Harley, do you really think that The Joker is even capable of loving anyone but himself? Why can't you see that he's just using you for his own sick pleasure? When are you going to wake up and realize that he doesn't love you?!"

They were silent as Harley tried to hold back her tears as she stared Ivy down. "You're wrong, Red," she whimpered. "You don't know him like I do; you don't see his private side. Just this morning, he was practically begging me to be safe, even though it was broad daylight outside. Tell me that he doesn't love me if he gave me a diamond encrusted necklace with my initial hanging from a gold chain for my birthday. Oh, and I guess he doesn't love me because if he didn't then he wouldn't hold onto me while we slept at night. So, tell me he doesn't love me, Red. Tell me that!"

Harley tears finally fell as she slumped back onto the sofa and hid her face in her hands. Ivy looked at her and felt a tinge of regret for all the things she had just told her, but she had a hard time believing that a psychotic killer like The Joker was ever capable of showing any kind of human emotion. However, she knew that Harley always told her the truth even when it made her look foolish and naïve.

Ivy sat beside her friend and put her arms around her and Harley cried into her shoulder. "I'm sorry, honey," Ivy comforted her. "I guess…I care about you too much. You're right; I don't know how your home life is, but if what you say is true…then…I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

Harley slowly lifted her eyes to Ivy, who smiled at her as Harley whispered, "It's okay, Red. I know you mean well." She wiped her face and giggled, "Sorry I flew off the handle there."

Ivy chuckled. "Yeah, me too. You know what'll set us both straight?"

Harley bit her lip. "Pierce Brosnan?"

Ivy shook her head. "Even better." She held up two movies and said, "Two words: George…Clooney."

Harley squealed and bounced in her seat. "Oh, that would definitely hit the spot. Just don't tell Mistah J. He tends to get a little jealous of ole George."

Ivy laughed as she put the DVD in the player. "What guy wouldn't? He's Clooney. And for the next four hours, he belongs to us."

The sun was setting hours later as the two friends lay stretched on the sofa listening to jazz on Ivy's radio. "Why do you always play jazz music, Red?" Harley asked as she rubbed Ivy's feet.

Ivy shrugged and replied, rubbing Harley's feet, "I dunno. My plants tend to prefer this kind of music. You know, music can help plants grow. Talking to them helps, too."

"So," Harley grinned. "If you really want to make your plant grow bigger…do you talk dirty to it?"

Ivy clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. "You're starting to pick up your boy toy's filthy mouth."

Harley giggled. "Just this morning…" she stopped and laughed and then continued, "Okay. We talk about the craziest crap ever, Red. Our conversation this morning started out with the subject of rainforests and then ended with talk of solar-powered vibrators. Not only is our home life quiet, but it's also never boring when it comes to talking to Puddin'."

Ivy couldn't help but laugh. "Solar-powered, eh? Wouldn't be so much fun if you got that sexual itch in the middle of the night would it? What good would it do?"

"Well, that's simple. It would just be a plain old dildo."

They looked at each other and then suddenly laughed out loud. After a while, Ivy wiped her eyes and said, "Man, Harl. I never know what you're going to say. That's why I love hanging out with you."

"Aww, me too, Pammie," Harley smiled, but then suddenly looked out of the window. "Oh, shit. I gotta go. Mistah J wanted me home before dark."

"Will he be home before dark?"

"Nice one, Red," said Harley as she put on her shoes and picked up her purse. "I've already tried that one."

As Harley stepped out of the apartment building, she noticed the sun was almost behind the building for Wayne Enterprises. She trotted as fast as she could down the sidewalk and finally turned the corner to head in to downtown. Harley suddenly stopped when she heard what she thought were footsteps and she put her hand in her pocket and took out The Joker's knife. She held it tightly in her hand as she paced quickly down the sidewalk, but then she heard the sound of whistling surrounding her and she stopped and opened the knife. "Who's there?" she shouted, standing as straight as she could even though she was frightened. "Show yourself, asshole!" She didn't have time to see her attackers' faces when one of them suddenly appeared out of an alley and then everything went dark.

The Joker sat on the bed back at the theatre and had his cell phone to his ear. He sighed as Harley's voicemail picked up and he left a message. "Harley, this is the fourth time I've had to call you. Where the hell are you?!" He paused and put his hand to his forehead and said, softly, "Call me…let me know where you are."

He slammed his phone shut and got up from the bed to pace by the window. All he could see was an empty lot with a lone black Escalade sitting in front of the theatre. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, looking out to see if he could spot Harley walking through the gate of the fence. He licked the scarred corners of his mouth and dialed Harley's number again. "Harley!" he said sharply to her voicemail, but then quickly changed his tone. "Baby…where are you? Let me know if you need help or a ride because I'll send Mike out to come get you. Come home soon, doll." He closed his phone and decided that pacing by the window wouldn't make Harley get home any faster so he went into his study to pace there instead.

Buddy, Mike and Sly were playing dominoes at the kitchen table when they heard the front door open. They turned and Mike jumped up and ran over to Harley. Her shirt was torn and hanging off one shoulder and she was limping on the broken heel of her boot, and all the while she kept her head down and tried to sneak upstairs without The Joker's men seeing her. When Mike went over to her, he held her up by her shoulders but let go when Harley let out a painful whine. "Miss Quinn?" Buddy asked as he and Sly came over to her. "What the hell happened?"

They all froze when they heard the door to the study open and The Joker's voice, "Harley? Is that you, Precious?" His tone sounded strict and foreboding but Harley didn't answer. She kept her silence as she tried to keep her tears from falling. However, they began drip softly from her eyes when she heard The Joker's footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Harley, I've been calling you for the past two hours. What the hell do you think…?" He stopped when he reached the bottom of the stairs and found Harley leaning against the wall by the front door. "Harley?" he whispered as he approached her and tried to hold her face in his hands. "What happened, baby?" Harley kept pulling away from him and The Joker began to get frustrated, not just from Harley's refusal to look at him but from his growing concern. "Harley. Look at me. Tell me what happened."

She slowly looked into his eyes, which grew wider at what he saw. Harley had a deep bruise over her right eye and her bottom lip was split into a cut. She began to sob as The Joker sighed and pulled her close to him, and as she wailed into his neck, his anger began to grow at whoever did this to his girl.

"Come on, sweetie," he whispered. "Let's get you upstairs." He tried to hold her up but every time she took a step she would let out a whimper. He picked her up and cradled her as he turned to his men. "Sly. Get me a big bag of ice and some peroxide. It should be under the sink in the kitchen. Buddy, I'll need some Ace bandages; I think there's some in the back of the car." His men did as they were told, but Mike butted in. "What should I do, Boss?"

The Joker turned and looked at him when he got to the top of the stairs. "Take it easy, kid. I'll need all three of you later."

Harley was still crying even as The Joker was treating her cut with peroxide and wrapping her left ankle in a bandage. He made Harley hold the bag of ice over her eye and after he finished covering her ankle he looked at her bruised body as she lay on the bed gasping for breath through her heavy sobs. "Harley," he said, taking her hand and squeezing it.

She began to calm down as she squeezed back and tried to sit up, but The Joker stopped her. "No, no, doll. You stay put." He put another pillow under her head and a smaller pillow under her ankle. "Now," he said as he went to the other side of the bed and sat beside her. "Tell me what happened."

"Well," Harley choked. "I had just left…Ivy's…when these three guys…surrounded me…I had my knife in my hand…and I think I stabbed one of them in the leg before I blacked out."

"Blacked out?" he asked. "Does your head hurt?"

"No, Puddin'," Harley said. "I'm sure I don't have a concussion. Anyway…I had seen them earlier that day…in a coffee shop…they kept looking at me…when I woke up they were around me…and one of them started asking me where you were…"

"Do we know these assholes?" The Joker snarled, his ears starting to burn at the thought of some punks beating her to a bloody pulp in order to get information. "Were they cops?"

Harley shook her head. "No, I don't think so. They kept…asking me where you were…because…of the reward that's out…on you…they said they figured…if they got me then I could tell them where you were…or they could hold me for ransom…"

"Really?" The Joker asked darkly.

"I didn't tell them anything, baby. I swear. I pretended to black out again…and they left me there."

The Joker reached over and stroked her forehead. "I know, baby girl. I trust you. Now, did you catch their faces? What did they look like?"

She told them about their appearances and that one of them was wearing an O'Gill's Pub shirt. "O'Gill's?" asked The Joker. Suddenly, he remembered going to that particular pub once with Harvey Dent after a job and seeing a muscular bartender working that night who fit the description that Harley had just given him. "I know who that is," he muttered.

"You do?" Harley looked over at him with hope in her eyes.

He looked back at her and smirked. He leaned in and kissed her cheek and said, "I want you to rest, Harley Baby, okay?" She nodded as he ran his fingers through her hair. "Daddy has to go run an errand."

He walked out of the bedroom, leaving Harley to fall into a deep sleep. He hurried down the stairs and motioned to his men and they all stood up and put on their coats. "What's up, Boss?" asked Sly.

"We gotta go pick up a few packages," The Joker said as he went to his gun safe on the other side of the den and loaded three of his best handguns. "We have to bring them back here tonight and tonight only."

"Who are they for, Boss?" Buddy asked as he held the front door open for them.

The Joker stopped and smiled as he strapped his best gun into his shoulder holster. "They're for Harley."

Hours passed and Harley felt herself being gently nudged awake. "Harl," came The Joker's whisper. "Harley. Wake up." Her eyes fluttered open to find him smiling above her.

She slowly lifted herself up and groaned. "What is it, Pud?"

"I got something for you." Before she could say anything, Harley felt herself being lifted from the bed and The Joker carried her downstairs. She expected him to place her on the sofa or at the kitchen table for her present, but was surprised when he took her outside to the empty lot beside the theatre. He placed her in a cushioned chair and she looked in front of her and her jaw dropped.

Kneeling just a few feet in front of her were her three attackers, duct tape over their mouths and their hands taped behind their backs. Their feet were also taped together as they knelt onto the hard rocks on the lot. They looked up and saw Harley and what they had done to her and one of them hung his head and tried to hide his frightened tears.

"Come on now, gentlemen," The Joker said to them. "That's not the way you greet a lady. It's common courtesy to bow." He kicked one of the men in the stomach and he doubled over in pain, but was soon brought to sit up again when The Joker put a blade to his throat. "Sit up, now. Good boy," he commended sarcastically.

Harley watched him as he terrorized her assailants and couldn't help but grin. She loved to watch him work even before she started to go on jobs with him. She excitedly squeezed her hands in her lap as she gazed at him.

"So," The Joker said, circling them. "You boys were just walking along tonight, minding your own business…when all of a sudden…this beautiful woman…" He looked at Harley, who grinned at him. "Came out of nowhere…and stabbed you…you, right?" he asked the man he had stopped in front of and when the man nodded, The Joker kicked him in the stab wound Harley had put into his leg. "And you tried to defend yourselves, is that how it happened? Because…haha…that isn't what my girl is tellin' me."

He quickly ripped off the tape on the bartender's mouth. "You'd better talk before I slice your lips off, you fucking prick."

"No!" the man quickly answered. "We attacked her! We're sorry, man! We just wanted the money!"

The Joker glared at him and then gripped the man's face and put the duct tape back over his mouth. "Is money really worth…?" he growled. "Losing any of your self-respect…and beating up the girl that I care for?"

He came over to Harley and helped her out of her seat. She carefully walked beside him as they headed back toward the group of the now helpless men.

"You know," he told them as he held Harley's hand. "A lot of people…like you, possibly…question whether a guy like me…could actually…feel." He led Harley closer to the men as he continued, "But you see…I used to think that, too. And then I met this woman you see before you. See, she understands me. She's a part of my life. I like to keep her happy…because that makes me happy." His joyful glare suddenly turned dark. "But, I'll be damned if I let some punk kids…who only care about the reward they may get in exchange for me …which incidentally is being offered by the Mob, so you're pretty fucked whether you turn me in or not because those all those grease balls care about is money…what a coincidence."

He paused and cleared his throat. "But I digress. Like I was saying, I enjoy making the girl that I love happy and making her smile. But…you three have taken away her smile and…you three are the first to do that…" He handed Harley a serrated knife and said, with a dark smirk, "And you're also the last."

Harley looked down at the knife he had handed her. She was shocked at The Joker calling her 'the girl he loved,' especially after the argument she had earlier with Ivy. However, Harley gripped the knife and grinned. She knew what he had planned and she wasn't about to disappoint. "Now, I'm not going to hurt you," The Joker assured them. "Harley, however, is a different story." He looked over at her and smiled. "What do you say, baby girl?"

Harley glared at the three men who had stalked her all day, who had possibly waited around Ivy's apartment just so they could try to overpower her to get information as to the whereabouts of the man she loved. They wanted to tear apart what she and The Joker had set up these two years: a home. A home where they could be comfortable and not worry about scum like the three she saw before her. Oh, yes. She wanted revenge, but she didn't want to have all the fun. "Daddy?" she cooed.

The Joker smiled and said, "Yes, darlin'?"

"I think before we teach these punks a lesson, I think they first need to know what love actually feels like." She looked at him with an expression that dared challenge him, but she knew that he would play along.

He realized what she was doing and his trademark smile slowly spread across his face. "I think you're right, Harley. These kids don't know what love is, otherwise…they wouldn't have laid a finger on you, now would they?"

Harley playfully pouted as she gripped her knife. "No, they wouldn't have made me cry either, Daddy."

"Exactly, Precious." He walked toward one of the men and drew his knife. "So, I'll go first. Love is…" He put his blade to the man's mouth. "A warm smile." He ripped his knife through the man's cheek and he cried out in pain as The Joker laughed.

Harley laughed as she went to one of the other men and put her blade inside his nostril. "Love is like…hmmm…a bouquet of roses." She pulled back her hand and tore a nice slit in the man's nose, and blood poured onto the rocks below them.

The Joker came up behind the man he was torturing and grabbed a fistful of his hair as he put his blade to his scalp. "Hey, baby? Would you still love me if I were bald?" Harley laughed as The Joker slowly sliced into the man's skin and pulled off a nice bloody chunk of hair.

"I dunno, Pud," Harley squeaked as she put her knife to her guy's ear. "Would you still love me if I were deaf?" She easily cleaved her blade through cartilage and casually threw the ear behind her.

The Joker chuckled as he gripped his man's face again. "Sure thing, sweetness. Just as long as you didn't care…if I were blind." The man's eyes grew wide as The Joker stabbed each of his eyes out with his blade and the man's lids closed tightly as he screamed. "Because if you didn't," The Joker shouted over the shrieks. "That would break my heart." He slammed his blade repeatedly into the man's chest until his screams stopped and he fell onto his back, dead.

"Aww, but, Puddin'," Harley said as she stood in front of her target. "If I broke your heart, then it would break mine." She plunged her knife into the man's chest and sawed back in forth into the entrance wound before the man finally fell flat on his face in a pool of his own blood.

They stood staring at one another while they tried to catch their breath, both of their faces splattered with blood.

My God, Harley thought to herself. He's so beautiful.

Damn, The Joker told himself. I'm one lucky man.

They met each other in front of the last man kneeling, his bartender's shirt covered with blood that had been sprayed onto him from his friends' dying bodies. He sobbed into the duct tape that was covering his mouth as Harley and The Joker stood looking at him.

Suddenly, The Joker gave him an eerie grin and he gripped the man's face and held his blade to his forehead. Then, too add to the man's distress, The Joker quietly started singing.

"_Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight, gonna grab some afternoon delight_…" He slowly started to carve into the man's forehead as he continued, "_My motto's always been when it's right, it's right. Why wait until the middle of a cold, dark night?_"

Harley had watched what he was carving and she smiled and joined in, "_When everything's a little clearer in the light of day…and we know the night is always gonna be there anyway…_"

The man began to cry harder, not just from the pain searing into his face but from the eeriness of their singing as they defiled him. The Joker pulled away from him when he finished and smiled as Harley held onto his arm, in awe of what he had created. He had carved a perfect heart and in the middle was etched _J + HQ_.

"_Thinking of you's working up my appetite, lookin' forward to a little afternoon delight_," Harley sang.

The Joker looked at her and sang back, "_Rubbing sticks and stones make the sparks ignite and the thought of lovin' you is gettin' so exciting…_"

"_Sky rockets in flight_," they both sang, his arm around her as the man watched them through his tears that were now mixing with the blood dripping from his forehead. "_Afternoon delight_…"

The Joker reached into his coat and pulled out his gun, shooting the man in the heart. Harley jumped and held onto him and then looked into his eyes. "Why'd you do that?" she whispered.

"I'm getting tired," he whispered back, casually as he put his gun back in his holster.

Harley smiled. "Me too," she said quietly.

The Joker squinted at her and whispered, "Why are we whispering?"

Harley giggled and murmured, "I don't know. I guess I'm getting tired, too."

He chuckled and put his forehead to hers. "It's true, you know."

She caressed his scar. "What?"

"All that stuff I said. It's true."

"I know, Mistah J." She stopped stroking his cheek. "Am I just a possession to you?"

He gave her a confused look and then rolled his eyes. "Did Ivy tell you that?" She nodded and The Joker thought for a moment. "Well…you do go perfectly with the drapes in our bedroom." Harley gave him a cold look and he laughed and ran his fingers through her hair. "Harley Baby, don't listen to her. But…I will admit…you are the best thing I have right now…and…I don't want to lose you. Is that considered possessiveness?"

Harley smiled contentedly at his answer and rested her head on his chest. "I don't care anymore."

They stood there holding one another as the blood around them pooled at their feet. The Joker kissed the top of Harley's head and sang, "_Afternoon delight_…"

Harley let out a loud laugh to which The Joker replied, chuckling, "Sorry, but it was killin' me; the song had to be ended."


End file.
